The Buccaneers at this point in the season are a one-dimensional team. The run game cannot seem to get on track with the aerial attack. The Buccaneers made off-season moves in order to remedy this problem, but nothing has worked. Ronald Jones II has not seen a second of NFL playing time since the NFL Draft. What is the answer for the Buccaneers?
After the 2017 season, Tampa Bay found themselves searching for someone to fill that starting role. Jacquizz Rodgers and Peyton Barber seemed to be the two leading candidates for the job. The NFL Draft came around and the Buccaneers selected Ronald Jones II out of USC. He hasn’t been acive for a regular season game because of where he is sitting on the depth chart this year. Peyton Barber took the lead in preseason, and looked good doing it. He rushed 15 times for 87 yards and 2 touchdowns in three games. This doesn’t seem like much, but the Buccaneers needed something to offset the aerial attack everyone was hoping they would posses in 2018.
Now fast forward the regular season, Peyton Barber has been horrendous. The Buccaneers can’t run the ball against anyone. The numbers through the air are outstanding and the games have been close due to the lack of running by our backfield. In three regular season games, Barber has rushed for 124 yards on 43 carries. He has yet to see the end zone. That is a whopping 41 yards/gm. In Monday’s loss versus the Pittsburgh Steelers, Barber ran for 33 yards on 8 attempts and Fitzpatrick for 27 yards of 5 attempts.
What is the remedy for this problem? Well the easiest solution that everyone is going to jump on would be for the Buccaneers to trade for Le’Veon Bell. The problem with this is that Bell hasn’t been playing all year, so he isn’t ready for a heavy workload. Also, you’re basically getting a rental player because he would hit free agency at the end of the year as you are not able to offer a contract extension mid-season due to the franchise tag rules. This seems pretty unrealistic to me, but I have seen weirder things happen.
The more realistic situation would be that Peyton Barber continues to carry the ball. He continues to get 50-60 yards/ game without turning the ball over. We have to stay patient and hope that Ronald Jones II is the future of our backfield, and that Fitzpatrick or Winston will continue to air it out. They cannot turn the ball over like they did tonight and the defense needs more stops. Have faith and don’t jump off the bandwagon just yet because Monday night was just a little blip on the radar.
